When the Emporia Farmers’ Market opens in May, produce can be purchased using debit cards.
Tracey Graham, marketing director for the market, made the announcement during Sunday night’s annual meeting for the market’s vendors, potential vendors and Friends of the Farmers’ Market.
Those with Vision cards can bring them to the market and have them scanned in exchange for tokens to be used for food. The program allows cardholders to purchase almost any of the food offered at the market, with the exception of hot, ready-to-eat foods. Debit card holders will be able to buy tokens as well.
“So what does that mean?” Graham said. “Demand’s gonna go up. So vendors plant more and recruit more vendors.”
2008 was a record-breaking year, Graham told the group. The new season for the market will begin May 2.
“Almost every single market day was above average,” Graham said. “In fact, in 46 market days, 26 were record highs, 13 were above average, and there were only seven market days that were below the five-year average. There weren’t any that were record lows.”
The seven below-average days were attributed to bad weather.
“Bottom line is, we had a stellar year,” Graham said.
Despite the market’s record-breaking performance, operating expenses still were higher than income. The market brought in $16,409 for 2008, but expenses were $21,071.
Graham said the market had to eat into its reserves, and is trying to find ways to increase income without charging vendors higher rates.
“We need more Friends of the Market, we need more donations, we need more sponsorship and advertising,” Graham said.
Lee Alderman, director of Abundant Harvest, came to the meeting to thank vendors for donating enough food to provide 15,000 free meals to hungry people in Emporia.
“When they saw the yellows and the reds and the greens of that fresh produce, it just really blew them away,” Alderman said. “... Imagine how much of a blessing it was to those folks to have all that fresh produce at the soup kitchen. They felt special. It was a blessing.”
Graham addressed a question from one vendor concerning canned goods at the Farmers’ Market. According to state law, jams and jellies can be sold at the market, but anything else has to be canned in a licensed kitchen.
“If you’re gonna sell salsas, pickles, any of those things, they have to be produced in a licensed kitchen,” Graham said. “That’s a state law.”
Graham said that Farmers’markets around the state are working on changing that law so it makes more sense. In addition, the Local Food Network is at work trying to put together a licensed kitchen for the community.
Board president Pam Thuma took questions and listened to ideas for how to improve the Farmers’ Market. Vendors asked questions ranging from whether the market can expand in the parking lot at Merchant Street and Seventh Avenue (Graham said she is talking with the city about the possibility) to whether wineries can sell their goods at the market (they can’t).
Potential vendors asked questions about how to get started as a vendor and whether they have to sell their products by piece or by weight. Thuma and Graham gave them information on how to get started, and Thuma said the vendors can choose how to sell their products. A down-side to selling by weight is that the scales used must be certified annually by the state.
Thuma said 2009 looks like it will be a good year for the market. What looks like bad news for the economy might translate into good news for the market as more and more people look to buy food locally.
In other business, Graham asked for volunteers for a Regulatory Advisory Committee to decide on the market’s business matters.
Five people volunteered to serve on the committee.
And three new members were voted to the market’s board at the meeting, bringing the number of board members to 12. The new board members are Judy Conway, Ellen Hansen and Becky Smith.
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